through new england where this storm really did some damage. it was out on the highways, take a look. it's being blamed for a 50-car pileup in pennsylvania that left cars dinged and dented and people stranded for hours. >> it is crazy. this whole corner is full of piled-up cars. holy smokes. >> sundays in december, they mean me on my couch watching football. mother nature brought her a-game this weekend. die hard fans proved their loyalty with a mixture of frostbite and frozen paces. >> i'd rather me home with a glass of wine in my hand. go eagles! >> crazy. joining me from out in the elements, the weather channel's mike seidel. dylan dreyer and of course warm and dry is of course bill karins in studio. i want to start first with weather channel meteorologist mike seidel live in leesburg, virginia, about 40 miles outside of washington, d.c. mike, i understand -- i saw you

earlier this morning predawn and it was pretty icy. what's it like right now? >> reporter: it's beginning to loosen up a little bit. temperatures have climbed to 33 at nearby dulles so doing this is a whole lot easier. this morning you needed an ice pick o'pir pick ax. by the way, philadelphia, 8.6 inches yesterday. that's more snow than they had the entire season last year. that was 8.3. everything under your feet is ice. now, we had 4 inches of snow and then the ice on top. it's a layer, like a big ole thick pancake. you can see that's all ice. about half an inch of ice on the trees that stressed them out. right now power outages have been increasing through northern virginia down through the shenandoah valley. about 75,000 customers without power. if you count d.c. and pg county and montgomery county in maryland, those three areas are running at 13,000 customers. a better day at the airport. yesterday 240 outbound flights

cancelled at reagan and dulles. this morning, only 70 flights have been cancelled. but check out the forecast. we have more snow coming in. we have another shot of snow coming in tomorrow morning, probably getting here by sunrise of the it will be out of here by lunchtime. then those temperatures will plummet as bill karins will bring us up to date very shortly. right now we can hear everything dripping. that's a great sound. we hear ice coming off the power lines and we're happy to see the temperature finally above freezing at least for the rest of today. after tomorrow, it's back into the ice box into the weekend. >> it's good to see folks down there driving slowly because we know folks in the d.c. area that don't know how to drive in this stuff. weather channel's mike seidel in leesburg, virginia. thanks very much. for more on the wicked weather, we want to go to nbc's dylan dreyer about 80 miles north of new york city with an update on conditions there. dylan. >> reporter: hey, brian. you know here in poughkeepsie, new york, we woke up to a coating of snow. then after it snowed briefly, it quickly turned over to freezing

rain. not a lot, but just enough that you see a glaze over the ground here. now, we had periods of moderate freezing rain off and on throughout the morning. it's still kind of freezing drizzle right now. but if you look up at the trees, it's not like we're seeing a massive coating of ice that's going to bring down trees and power lines. at least in this area. so we are still getting the storm. the storm that was in california just on saturday. but it's in a much lesser form. we're not really seeing as much activity going on here as we did, like areas in philadelphia and down through baltimore. delaware ended up with about a foot of snow. but here it's just the freezing rain that's a nuisance this morning. we're running around 30 degrees so the roads could still potentially be very slippery. the parking lots this morning were extremely slippery because of this glaze of ice. now, we're going to see improvements later on this afternoon. freezing rain will turn over to rain. so in the meantime for this monday morning commute unfortunately we're going to just see some slick spots so a

little slower going than it normally would be on a monday. >> thank you very much. how bad is it going to get in terms of the cold? bill karins tracking the temperatures. i guess new york looks like it melted pretty well, but other parts won't get that chance. >> yeah, and we've got more snow on the way so it's like a 1, 2, 3 punch that's coming in tomorrow morning and last until the early afternoon. we're just about done with this. when you see scranton go up to 35, we've melted a lot of the icing. a lot of the roads have seen dramatic improvements from the morning. so then we get round two or three tomorrow. this one looks like just enough cold air and not ice. this is mostly snow. but the possibility of a good little mini snowstorm for a lot of the big cities. washington, d.c., about 2 to 4. the timing of this looks to be from 8:00 a.m. to about 2:00 a. p.m., so a quick-moving system during the daylight hours. philadelphia about 3 to 6, of course you got the 8 inches yesterday so that could be on top of that snow. new york city not as much, about 1 to 3, but that's in and out in

a hurry. as far as the cold goes, i've got to show you this. bear alaska is at 14 degrees. the sun set there two weeks ago and won't rise until the end of january. they're at 14 degrees. fairbanks is at 31. typically it's minus 12 in fairbanks on average. much colder. look at the temperature in kansas city at 7, des moines 3, denver 3. the coldest air you're going to find. if you went and walked all the way through canada up to the north pole is located right over canada, down into the central plains and these windchills are ridiculous. just not fun. it's been this way for a week straight in fargo. minus 28 in windchill. look at chicago, not even a shot of going above freezing all week in chicago. that cold air, brian, here to stay. >> we didn't get the snow, we have some pond skating maybe, bill. >> got to be careful on that ice early in the season. >> we'll have the fire department check it, thank you very much. some other news to get to, including what the "washington post" is calling a cease-fire. that would be the budget deal being hammered out between negotiators in the house and the senate. the "post" reports the deal

doesn't significantly reduce the debt, doesn't close corporate tax loop holholes or fully repl sequester cuts. rob portman believes a deal will come soon. while not trying to rock the boat. >> the key is that we not have another government shutdown, that we do keep the spending caps in place. that we don't raise taxes at a time when the economy is still weak and i think we can accomplish that the next couple of days. >> congressman chris van hollen says he puts the chances of a deal at 50-50 and that any cuts to federal employees' pensions would be a deal breaker, at least for him. >> you cannot be asking federal employees to bear the share of the burden that they're asking for here as part of an agreement when you're not asking, for example, agribusinesses that get huge taxpayer subsidies to have a contribution. >> of course he has a slew of federal employees in his district. joining me now dnc congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz of

florida. thanks for being here. now, the "washington post" quotes the head of a bipartisan think tank that this could be declared a victory is an indicator of how low the process has sunk. they haven't really done anything except avoid another crisis. and so i guess for me is are we just doing another version of kicking the can down the road or is there some sort of potential detente between the two parties when it comes to the budget? >> it doesn't appear there's going to be some sort of detente because you still have john boehner allowing the tea party to have a tight stranglehold on whether or not we can move forward in a significant way. i mean they still have a hard-core group of house members on the republican side that would be willing to shut the government down. >> again. >> oh, yeah, yeah. there's a number of them. look, i debated, my counterpart reince priebus last week, and he refused to rule out shutting the government down. he said i doubt it, when asked whether he thought it would happen again. i mean if they thought that that

was -- that spending $24 billion, that that shutdown cost our economy, was a bad thing, you'd think that the chair of the republican national committee would be distancing himself as much as possible, yet they are digging in hard on whether or not we're going to spend $25 billion giving the long-term unemployed up employment benefits. >> let's talk about the unemployment benefits issue for a second. you know, it's going to run out, i believe, on december 28th and could affect over a million people. senator dick durbin in the other chamber said that perhaps it doesn't have to be a part of this budget deal. have a quick listen to what he has to say. >> i do support unemployment benefits for the 26 weeks that they're paid for. if you extend it beyond that, you do a disservice to these workers. there was a study that came out a few months ago and it said if you have a worker that's been unemployed for four weeks and on unemployment insurance and one that's on 99 weeks, which one would you hire? every employer, nearly 100%, said they will always hire the person who's been out of work

four weeks. when you allow people to be on unemployment insurance 99 weeks, you're causing them to become part of this perpetual unemployed group of our economy. >> that was rand paul, not dick durbin, which you can find plenty of fodder on that one too. but the bottom line is he didn't think that would scuttle the deal. just explain to people because there's a chance that unemployment benefits could still be extended even if it's not in the deal and people don't necessarily understand that. >> that's right. we can take up the legislation separately, it doesn't have to be baked into the budget deal. i think as long as there's some agreement that has them go side by side before the deadline expires, then we would be able to embrace that. >> so do you -- so it's not a deal breaker from your perspective either to have it in the specific budget deal? >> as long as there's an agreement that it's going happen, then it's not a deal breaker. >> so politico has a piece up right now basically saying the

budget talks are worrying for those not in the room, namely senate republicans and house democrats hearing details through the media. it says as angst over the content of the deal grows, the possibilityin greesz that house dems or senate republicans could mount an attack to stop or at least slow down a deal. do you worry about the information flow and do you worry about the people who aren't be included, what they might do? >> what i worry about is last week john boehner, when there was a suggestion that a deal was close, said no, a deal is not imminent. i mean because they really continue to believe that the sequester cuts are actually a positive thing and what he's dealing with is he's got this stable of tea party extremists in his conference that think that if we leave the sequester cuts in place that that's the discipline that our budget and economy need. on the other hand, we've already seen that we've had 45 straight months of job growth thanks to president obama and democrats' policies. we need to kick that into even higher gear when it comes to the

recovery. and the republicans have been contributing to our inability to kick that into higher gear. >> just quickly, we're tight on time, what's your best guess in terms of prognosticating what's actually going to happen? >> i would not be betting the house that we're going to have a budget deal by friday. >> debbie wasserman schultz. great for the lump of coal, although for us maybe it's hannukah. we appreciate the time and being with us today. >> thank you. today's big question is on this talk of an impending deal or maybe not. can congress reach a budget deal without an 11th hour panic? weigh in on twitter or facebook. it's @thomas roberts or m me @bshactman and give us your opinion. final preparations under way at a soccer stadium in south africa for a memorial service for nelson mandela. more than a hundred heads of state expected to attend. we'll have a live report from south africa next. the have and the have notes. what's really standing in the way of closing the income

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president obama and first lady michelle on their way to south africa this morning to attend the memorial service for former south african president and anti-apartheid icon nelson mandela. former presidents jimmy carter, george w. bush and bill clinton, along with former secretary of state hillary clinton are also attending. the massive memorial service, perhaps the largest honestly in history scheduled for tuesday in

johannesburg's fnb stadium where president obama is expected to sta speak. a funeral will be in nelson mandela's hometown. here's live pictures from south africa where a prayer service is being held at the nelson mandela foundation hosted by archbishop desmond tutu. ron allen about a half hour away in soreto. >> reporter: yes, here we are across the street from the nelltnel nelson mandela family home. you can see there's a street party that continues on now for several days since mr. mandela's death was announced on thursday evening here. the street has been filling with marchers, with choirs, with schoolchildren, with ordinary people who have come from far and near to be here, to be part of a celebration of mr. mandela's life. all of this is perhaps a day of anticipation because tomorrow about a mile or so from here, that huge soccer stadium that

seats some 80,000 people, there will be countless people gathering to come to mourn, to come and breathe and celebrate mr. mandela's life. it may be the largest organization ever, perhaps rivaling the services for pope john paul ii when there were 70 heads of state, kings and queens. we are hearing there will bow 50 or 60 heads of state. leaders from as far away as new zealand and australia also coming here. although the american delegation, as you mentioned, which was scaled down based on the wishes of the south african government, they are trying to limit this. there is just a huge outpouring for mr. mandela and literally the world wants to be here. millions more will be watching on television around the world, social media will be swamped and perhaps overwhelmed by remembrances of mr. mandela, just a singular event that's going to take place here in south africa honoring the life

of nelson mandela. >> it's a good opportunity to remind everybody what he did. i remember watching this weekend all the coverage in terms of teaching them what happened. ron allen, we appreciate it. more people are signing up for obama care, but does that mean the website and the pr push are actually working? coming up, i'll speak with connecticut congressman rosa delauro. also ahead, we've all complained about airport layovers but this one takes the cake. how did a man end up locked inside a dark, empty plane long after it landed? we'll explain. ♪ ♪ nothing says, "you're my #1 copilot," like a milk-bone biscuit.

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supreme court. i guess, pete, you would think it's conventional assumption that they should be able to do this, though. >> reporter: federal law does provide them immunity unless they act in bad faith and that's the question here. this involves a pilot for air wisconsin airways flying commuter planes for united express. he had to take new tests to be upgraded to a different plane and he failed a simulator test three times. he claims he was set up by people in the airline who wanted him out. but in any event when he failed it the last time, he got mad, he yelled at the instructor, threw his headset off, jammed his seat back. after that, the airline decided, you know, we'd better tell tsa about this. this pilot had been cleared, as many pilots are, to carry a firearm. the airline booked him a return flight as a passenger back to his home, but after a couple of hours, told the tsa that he was mentally unstable and might have a gun. and the plane, as it was taxiing away, had to come back to the gate. federal agents came on the plane, dragged him off, opened

his suitcase off, said where's your gun? it turned out he was at home. he sued and the jury awarded the pilot a million and a half dollars. the jury, this was in colorado where the pilot lived, said the airline acted in bad faith. the airline saying, no, that's the wrong standard. if something is basically true, and you could certainly quibble with the words that are used, then the airlines ought to be immune from lawsuit because you want people if they see something to say something not to worry about something that lawyers might say later. i think the court was troubled by the way the colorado supreme court handled this case, but the difficulty is several of the justices said do you really want lawyers involved in parsing these statements or do you want people to report something quickly. >> obviously if the pilot loses, it protects that immunity even more or upholds it. if the pilot wins, does that just open the flood gates for lawsuits? >> his lawyer is saying no, that this statute has been tested in

court only a few times and that the rule ought to be very clear that no matter -- it shouldn't matter whether something is true or not. thooec even if a baggage handler sees something and it turns out to be mistaken, as long as the person thinks it is true and is acting in good faith, it should be protected. >> see it, say it. they shouldn't be fearful of it. thank you, pete williams, we appreciate it. we're also following developing news out of ukraine. tensions were high there earlier today as police took up positions around demonstrators in kiev's independent square. protesters have been in the square for weeks speaking out against their presidents backing out of a trade packet with the european union. yesterday they toppled a statue of vladimir lenin. actor george clooney speaks to the protesters in a video released today. >> so let me just say this to all of you in the square in kiev

or all around ukraine, when you look to the west, know that we are looking back at you with great admiration. >> ukrainian president has agreed to meetings as part of an effort to diffuse the esqu esqcg tension. let's take a look at some of the other top stories. san diego mayor bob filner will be sentenced on sexual harassment charges. he pled guilty to grabbing the buttocks of one woman, placing another in a headlock and kissing a third. chuck hagel met with the pakistani prime minister hoping to soothe relations between washington and islamabad. it is the first visit by a pentagon chief to that country in nearly four years. north korea has announced leader kim jong-un's uncle has been removed from power. he was considered to have been

second in command in north korea. reports say the uncle was corrupt, a womanizer and abused drugs. the outdoorsman who cut off his forearm to free himself from a boulder back in 2003 inspiring the movie "127 hours" has been arrested. he faces domestic violence charges in colorado and will appear in court later today. a man who simply dozed off on a flight, woke up to find himself alone inside a dark, locked-up plane. luckily he had a cell phone, called his girlfriend who then contacted united airlines and got him out. the incident is under investigation. check this one out, a riot erupting in the stands yesterday during a soccer game in brazil and it's no joke. police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to break up the fighters. one wounded spectator had to be airlifted from the stadium to a hospital. political and cultural stars came together last night for the kennedy center honors. billy joel, shirley maclaine,

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keeping up with these two is more than a full time job, and i don't have time for unreliable companies. angie's list definitely saves me time and money. for over 18 years we've helped people take care of the things that matter most. join today. as the white house continues its renewed public relations campaign to promote obama care, the number of americans signing up is on the rise. according to the kaiser family foundation, more than 243,000 have signed up for private coverage through the exchanges and more than 567,000 have been determined eligible for medicaid since the october 1st rollout. joining me now, congressman rosa delauro of connecticut and one of the white house democrats on the white house strike team promoting the health care law this month. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. delighted to be here. >> today's push is all about the success of medicaid expansion. 26 states and d.c. have taken

advantage while 24 states all run by republicans or republican legislatures have declined the expansion. i also want to point out these stats the white house just released. if all 50 states were on board, 5.4 million uninsured americans could gain coverage. eight in ten of those would pay less than $100 a month, all of which would save states $10 billion over the next decade. so my question, congresswoman, is what are we doing to get that message out there a little more? >> first of all, i think we need to get the message to those 24 states. i think it's quite unconscionable as you pointed out those are states with republican governors who have refused to deal with medicaid expansion. and then one -- and i say unconscionable because imagine, imagine not being able to provide an opportunity for affordable health care to millions of people. you know, we all take an oath of office. we uphold the constitution and

indeed what we have a responsibility to do is really to be caring about what's going on in the lives of the people that we represent. these governors certainly are not representing the best interests and i think the word is getting out. when you take a look at the numbers that you have spoken about today, there was a story in "the new york times" this morning about someone who found out they were eligible for medicaid. i think those governors who are not providing this opportunity ought to pay a very, very big price. >> you talk about responsibility. this also sort is practicing what you preach. we saw your twitter page and the photo of you after signing up for the aca last week. now today republican senator lindsey graham of south carolina says he too is signing up for obama care to which he added this comment. my insurance costs are going up with $400 a month, more than 200%. my health care coverage will be a fraction of what it used to be. but i will continue my fight to defund and allow americans to opt out of this horrible government program.

i guess we have different interpretations of how much this costs. what's your reaction to what he says? >> my god, it is just reading off the talking points from the -- you know, the republican conference and all the negative reporting. take a look at this. but despite all the negative commentary and reporting on this effort, it has been transformative in people's lives already. you take a look at preventive care, massive changes for preventive care. my own story, i am a survivor of ovarian cancer, and my diagnosis 27 years ago was by accident. and, yes, i could afford to have the screens and the tests that i need. so many people have avoided taking advantage of preventive treatments because they couldn't afford it. now they can. it's no co-pay. and no one has to be diagnosed by luck. they can be able to get not only their diagnosis but then they can get a treatment that they can afford. this -- the affordable care act

is about saving people's lives and making sure that health insurance is affordable instead of sabotaging it and trying to end it. what we ought to try to do is make sure it is implemented and make the changes that are necessary to meet the needs of the american people. >> all right, congressman rosa delauro from the nutmeg state, we appreciate your time. >> thank you. joining me now is upcoming, pending host at msnbc, ronan farrow. we want to talk about a bunch of stuff. i guess you're in the group of young invincibles that this whole plan needs to bend the cost curve. >> if you want a favorable risk pool and keep the costs down for everyone, that's the essential demographic. >> have they been lost? can they be gotten back if they are lost? >> there's a lot of partisan posturing on both sides. the reality is this wasn't the

cataclysmic failure yet that republicans had hoped it would be. it also has not been the sound, immediate success that democrats hoped it would be. what people need to recall is that the most immediate precedent for this, romney care in massachusetts, showed us that we don't have any sense for sign-up rates until the end, because that's when especially those young, healthy individuals who don't urgently need the health care sign up. so we've already seen a radical change in the rate of sign-up in the first several days of december. we saw more people sign up than did in all of the previous two months. if that trend continues, it's not inconceivable that the white house could make its benchmarks. until then they still have egg on their faces but i think the fight is not over yet. >> the whole fight from the republican side was not to get it entrenched so they could do something with it, but it seems like it's here and not going anywhere. >> that's the thing that is for people who are opponents of this policy frightening. once an entitlement is in place, it's very hard to take it away from people. >> income inequality, you

probably saw "the new york times" cover story today which i have right here in front of me. it says more than 22,000 homeless children in the city of new york. now, according to the article, about 50% of kids in new york city leave near or below the poverty line. pretty shocking numbers. across the country it's one in every five. so i'm not going to just ask you how to fix the problem because it's a huge problem that's going to take a generation or more to deal with. where would you start? >> i think the important thing to remember is that this administration is focusing on this in a way that is quite unprecedented. about five days ago president obama called this the defining challenge of our time, specifically income inequality. the upper 10% of americans is making 50% of the income in the country. all of those solutions are incredibly difficult to stomach. they mean increasing the minimum wage which in turn may mean more expensive goods for americans.

it means reducing executive compensation, which means pissing off a lot of very powerful people. it means things like increasing revenues, which obviously is a very hard sell. >> i came from cnbc, and when they talk about redistribution of wealth, they literally break out in hives and that's the type of thing. is that the only thing that can accomplish closing the gap? is that really -- you have to just do that? or are there other things like what bill clinton did with welfare to workers, some other things that could maybe do other than just that? >> i think that a robust welfare state can actually create a safety net for people and that can allow people to pull themselves up out of the bottom percentage points we're talking about but all of those have acute costs associated with them. so americans need to balance when they talk about their outrage at that income inequality, are they willing to pay the piper. >> there's the question who's the biggest barrier to income inequality and it refers to the

top 2% of adults who become rich for part of their lives. they have outside influence on america's economy and politics. they're more liberal than lower income groups on issues like abortion and gay marriage, but when it comes to money, they're wary of any government role to close the gap. they're against extending unemployment benefits, against raising minimum wage, in favor of cutting medicaid and food stamps. you're more of a policy guy than a political guy. is it a policy problem more than a political problem? >> it should be seen as a policy problem. the problem is, because it so closely resembles ideological touchstones like the american dream and retaining the wealth that you earn, it becomes a dogmatic issue and right/left issue. it should be seen as a cut and dry policy issue so when people aren't in school that is a policy challenge when people are less competitive. when people aren't getting jobs that's a policy problem because it creates strain on the state. >> but congress, as you talk

about it, is not doing anything. >> it's not doing anything. this is the least productive congress that we've ever had in american history. i think until we create metrics for job success that are built into the structure of how we treat our members of congress, that's not going to change. warren buffett has come out and proposed that actual sitting members of congress be ineligible for re-election if they don't beat search benchmarks, like the deficit being beneath a certain percentage of the gdp. it's a lot. >> or certain congressman who get a lot of air time like paul ryan and that's a taste of what we'll see pretty soon. ronan, thanks for stopping by today. today's producer pick comes to us from associate producer kristen bukaria. a georgia court has ordered a man to pay up for breaking his promise to marry. he owes his one-time fiance 50,000 large even though the man claims he never officially

popped the question. you can read more by heading to thomas roberts facebook page. you've got to put a ring on it, nice tune. we'll be right back. ♪ if yand you're talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about trying or adding a biologic. this is humira, adalimumab. this is humira working to help relieve my pain. this is humira helping me through the twists and turns. this is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage.

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i swapped it for staying in. [ shouts ] guess who's going out tomorrow. [ female announcer ] swap one snack a week for a yoplait. it is so good. a new initiative on the ballot in california has the power to change the way that state votes in presidential elections. as it stands now, california's 55 electoral voters often go for the democrat in the traditional winner-take-all system. but if this bill passes, those 55 critical votes would be divided, most going to the democrat as the state votes mostly blue but the rest could go to the republican. you typically count on those crucial electoral voters. joining me now is ron reagan and jamelle bouie. this is not the first time this initiative has been brought up in the state of california, the

plans to divide the electoral college last winter after president paobama won a second term. what's behind it? >> the republicans are getting older and there are fewer people who identify as republicans, so the idea is how do we win big national election, how do we win presidential elections when we can't really win when we don't have wide support, and the answer is cheat. so you change the rules. and it's very important. you only change these rules in big blue states like california that normally go for the democrat, would take all the electoral votes, you know, and give them to the democrat. well, you make them proportional. it's important that you don't do that in red states. if you do that across the board and make it essentially a popular vote election, then the republicans lose even worse than they do now. >> jamelle, is there something a little more nuanced in here too?

are there any particular minority groups that could be disenfranchised or is this trying to isolate anybody in the voting block? >> yes, they are. allocating votes is proportional, it's like land over people. if you control a lot of land in that state you probably will win that state which is the case in most places, where democratic voters are concentrated in urban districts and tightly packed places and republicans are disbursed throughout the countryside. so as far as demographics go, you would have african-americans, latinos, young people, highly disenfranchised by this proposal because they disproportionately live in these tighter, urban areas. >> what happens, ron, if california passes it and then large population states, new york, illinois, do the same. i mean how unfair in your opinion would an election be? >> well, quite unfair. you can't have a national election like, you know, our

presidential elections where some states obey some rules and other states obey others. right now we have the electoral college and it's basically in almost all states it's winner take all. but if you cherry pick states and if you only -- again, if you're republicans only cherry picking the blue states, only cherry picking the democratic states, then you have two different sets of rules, where if you're a red state and the republican wins in the red state, he gets all the electoral votes. in a blue state, though, we divide them proportionately according to the percentage of the vote, under this california scheme. that clearly disadvantages one party over the other. >> let me put that to you, jamelle. it can work for both sides though, no? >> i think if every state went to some port of proportional distribution scheme not by congressional district, it is just inherently unfair, but by vote share, it would work fine. you could even have -- the national popular vote initiative, the way it's supposed to work, is that whoever receives the most -- the

popular vote total in 270 electoral vote states ends up getting everything. so i think you can devise a way that this can work fine, but the california initiative is sort of designed to be unfair to particular demographics that vote for democrats. >> ron, you first, best guess as to what happens. this thing get voted down? >> yeah, i think so. >> jamelle? >> yeah, this is totally going to lose. i can't imagine anyone voting for it. >> great minds think alike. >> all right, fellas, it's good to agree. ron reagan, we appreciate it. jamelle bouie, good to be with you guys. conspiracy theorists, it's time for the poli side bar. president obama made a little history at last night's kennedy center honors. he became the first president to talk about area 51, at least in public. >> when you first become

president, one of the questions that people ask you is what's really going on in area 51? when i wanted to know, i called shirley maclaine. i think i just became the first president to ever publicly mention area 51. >> kentucky senator rand paul admitting yesterday that there's at least one person who doesn't want him to run for president, and that person would be his wife. >> i am seriously thinking about it, but i'm also very serious about the family considerations and, you know, just look at what happens daily to any politician in america. you talk about how uncivil things are. >> all right, it's not a joke actually. what did president obama, kathleen sebelius and senator

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developing now, the family members of the 26 people killed in the sandy hook school shooting will issue a statement in about an hour. minutes ago officials in newtown took questions from reporter as the town gets ready to face the one-year mark of the school shooting. the panel said it's answering questions in the hope the media will stay away this weekend. >> we don't need to be reminded. we don't need to relive it. we live it every day. we carry it with us. we're fully aware of our tragedy. we're trying to say to the world, please give us the chance to grow into that happy, healthy place that loves children and family, has great schools. we know who we are. we know that's our destiny but we need you to help us get there

by please staying away. >> nbc's rehema ellis joins us from newtown. what more do we know about today's statement from the families and what kind of things is the panel talking about? >> we don't know much of anything about the statement that is to come soon from the families. they haven't released any information. i suspect it's going to be in line with what happened today. the town is saying it hopes it can satisfy concerns, questions we may have leading up to the one-year mark of that tragedy that happened in newtown and to not visit the town on that day. in fact, the members who call the press conference, police, clergy, government officials said the town will not be hosting any kind of townwide event on december 14th. what they want is for people to have the opportunity to recover if they can. it was mentioned in the press conference a short while ago that the road to recovery is long. people are in different places on the journey.

mo >> we're very much focused on acts of kindness. part of that is our core belief. we truly belief you can pay that forward. it matters, makes a difference. those random acts of kindness have been going on for almost the entire year. >> so that's what they want is for people who care about the town and they acknowledge there are many, they would like them to participate in acts of kindness and offer to the community by not coming here. in addition it was mentioned there was a police report from the connecticut police association about the response time to the sandy hook shooting. they say they believe the response was as it should. the response time to this, which was less than three minutes from

the time of the 911 call, it was, indeed, an appropriate amount of time. nonetheless, the chief of police says they are going to continue to evaluate and reassess all information. if there's a need to make any changes they will. >> nbc's rehema ellis, thank you for the report. that wraps it up for me. thomas will be back tomorrow. don't tell him i took a yogurt out of the refrigerator. >> you took a yogurt out of the refrigerator with his name on it? >> he has his own frig. >> i know that. thomas roberts is the kind of guy you would think would have a mini refrigerator with yogurt in it, which is a compliment. continue with the yogurt, i'll pay him back. congress is approaching the brink of something rarely seen these days, an actual deal. the makings of a budget compromise and we'll talk makers

versus takers, plus we'll get a live preview of president obama's speech at tomorrow's nelson mandela memorial and we will compare conservative fear mongering and the war on christmas with the economic reality of actually trying to celebrate christmas. all of that when "now" starts right after this. welcome to my mom cave. wow. sit down. you need some campbell's chunky soup before today's big game, new chunky cheeseburger. mmm. i love cheeseburgers. i know you do. when did you get this place? when i negotiated your new contract, it was part of the deal. cool. [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right. but at least i can help keep their underwear clean. with charmin ultra strong. i'll take that. go get 'em, buddy! [ female announcer ] charmin ultra strong has a duraclean texture and its four times stronger than the leading bargain brand. enjoy the go with charmin ultra strong.

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a budget deal by the end of the week by for what cost. month december 9th and this is "now" live from washington, d.c. for the first time in a long time, democrats and republicans may be on the verge of coming up with a budget deal that does not involve brinksmanship, calamity or ted cruz and a cliff but that doesn't mean it won't hurt. for 4.1 million americans who have been out of work for 27 weeks or more, this week's

budget deal may be painful indeed. the average american worker is currently out of work nearly 37 weeks, near historic highs. if congress does not act before the end of this year, 1.3 million of those americans will lose their life line, long-term unemployment assistance congress authorized back in june 2008. revisiting the theme of economic fairness and fair shake for american worker, this weekend president obama urged congress to extend these benefits. >> these are people we know. they are our friends and our neighbors. they sit next to us in church and volunteer in our communities. their kids play with our kids. they include 20,000 veterans who serve this country with honor. >> but reminding them of the american social compact hasn't lately been enough to sway republicans and certainly doesn't seem to be doing so now. appearing on abc, gop senator rob portman acted as if helping unemployed was some